- The Calcutta Madrasa was established by Warren Hastings in 1781 for the study of Muslim law and related subjects.
- The Sanskrit College was established by Jonathan Duncan, the resident at Banaras, in 1791 for the study of Hindu law and philosophy.
- Fort William College was set up by Wellesley in 1800 for training of civil servants of the Company in languages and customs of Indians.
- The Act directed the Company to sanction one lakh rupees annually for education, but the amount was not made available till 1823.
- With the efforts of enlightened Indians such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, a grant was sanctioned for Calcutta College set up in 1817 by educated Bengalis.
- The Government also set up three Sanskrit colleges at Calcutta, Delhi and Agra.
- Lord Macaulay’s Minute (1835) settled the row in favour of the Anglicists – the limited government resources were to be devoted to teaching of Western sciences and literature through the medium of English language alone. Lord Macaulay held the view that “Indian learning was inferior to European learning”– which was true as far as physical and social sciences in the contemporary stage were concerned.
- By this act, the British planned to educate a small section of upper and middle classes, thus creating a class “Indian in blood and colour but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect”.
- It is considered as the “Magna Carta of English Education in India”.
- It asked the Government of India to owe responsibility for education of the masses.
- It systematised the hierarchy from vernacular primary schools in villages at bottom, followed by Anglovernacular High Schools and an affiliated College at the district level, and affiliating universities in the presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.
- It recommended English as the medium of instruction for higher studies and vernaculars at school level.
- It laid stress on female and vocational education, and on teacher training.
- It recommended a system of grants in aid to encourage private enterprises.
- In 1857, universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were set up.
- An Agriculture Institute at Pusa and an Engineering Institute at Roorkee were started.
- In 1882, the Government appointed a commission under the chairmanship of W.W. Hunter to review the progress of education in the country since the dispatch of 1854. The Hunt er Commi ssi on mostl y confined i t s recommendations to primary and secondary education.
- It recommended that primary education should be imparted through vernacular.
- It recommended transfer of control of primary education to newly set-up districts and municipal boards.
- It recommended that secondary (High School) education should have two divisions: (1) Literary — leading upto University and (2) Vocational — for commercial careers.
- In 1902, the Raleigh Commission was set up to go into conditions and prospects of universities in India and to suggest measures for improvement in their constitution and working.
- Conditions were to be made stricter for affiliation of private colleges.
- Five lakh rupees was to be sectioned per annum for five years for improvement of higher education and universities.
- Gokhale called it a “retrograde measure”.
- It recommended that school course should cover 12 years. Students should enter university after an intermediate stage (rather than matric) for a three-year degree course in university.
- A separate board of secondary and intermediate education should be set up for administration and control of secondary and intermediate education.
- A university should function as a centralized entity and there should be more applied scientific and technological education for women.
- According to it, emphasis should be laid on primary education but there need be no hasty expansion or compulsion in education.
- Only deserving students should go in for high school and intermediate stage, while average students should be diverted to vocational courses after VIII standard.
- A National Conference on Education was organized in 1937. It passed a resolution on education. In the light of the resolution, Zakir Hussain Committee formulated a detailed national scheme for basic education which aimed at ‘learning through activity’.
- The scheme included basic handicraft in the syllabus.
- It provided first seven years’ schooling compulsorily nationwide through mother tongue.
- It defused the method which established contact with the community around schools through service.
- There was not much development of this idea because of the start of the Second World War and resignation of Congress ministries.
- The commission was set up to report on university education in the country.